Hot Topics:

Shane O'Neill in midst of a 'dream year' with Rapids

Former Fairview star starting on back line for Rapids

By John Meyer The Denver Post

Posted:
10/16/2013 10:49:58 PM MDT

Updated:
10/16/2013 10:53:32 PM MDT

It has only been two years since Shane O'Neill was starring at Fairview High School en route to being named the Gatorade Colorado boys soccer Player of the Year. It has been only 13 months since he made his MLS debut for the Rapids.

He got his first MLS start March 30, and now -- only six weeks past his 20th birthday -- O'Neill is a fixture on the Rapids' stalwart back line, one of the best in MLS.

"It's been a good season," said O'Neill, a product of the Rapids Development Academy. "Right at the start of the year, I kind of got thrown into it. It's been a great learning experience. I'm just trying to gain as much experience as I can this year and keep improving."

The Rapids have given up only 33 goals in 32 games, and only Sporting Kansas City (29) has conceded fewer goals, so obviously O'Neill's youth hasn't been a liability. Playing alongside captain Drew Moor, O'Neill makes up for his lack of experience with his size and raw athletic ability. An imposing 6-foot-2 and 190 pounds, he also has played right back and midfield.

"I was pretty confident in myself. I was hoping this would be kind of a breakout year for me and get some minutes, but obviously it's kind of been a dream year," O'Neill said. "If somebody had said to me that I would be in this position, you would take it any day of the week."

Advertisement

Rapids coach Oscar Pareja has shown extraordinary confidence in O'Neill, whom he began starting in March. In June, O'Neill left to play for the U.S. in the under-20 World Cup, where he started two of its three games and scored a goal. He has started every game for the Rapids since returning from that tournament in Turkey.

"What I noticed from Shane was his personality," Pareja said. "His personality was different from the rest of the youngsters, and that immediately impacted what we as coaches thought about him and his future. Normally, these guys develop a little later here in the United States. We didn't hesitate to involve him with the first team, and he embraced that opportunity with character, with personality, and obviously he had a lot of talent."

It's one thing to be raw and inexperienced at forward or in the midfield. Untimely mistakes on the back line lose games, and the Rapids are sitting in a precarious spot bidding for the playoffs.

"As a center back, you can play a really solid game, pass the ball really nicely, make some really good plays, and just one mistake can cost you the point," O'Neill said. "I think that's the toughest part about playing in the back. You've just got to stay solid, you've got to trust yourself and keep your confidence up."

O'Neill and his sidekicks on the back line face an interesting challenge in their final two regular-season games, both against Vancouver. They will be facing winger Kekuta Manneh, an 18-year-old Ghanaian who had a hat trick last week against Seattle.

And those games are crucial. The Rapids stand right above the cutoff line for the playoffs with 48 points, but if Vancouver wins at Colorado on Saturday, the Whitecaps will be tied with the Rapids going into the final regular-season game at Vancouver on Oct. 27.

"A lot of pace," O'Neill said of Manneh. "Whenever you go up against a guy with a lot of pace, it's always going to be a challenge. We're going to have to try to minimize that, and get our attack going."

Local duo joining overseas exhibition excursionFilippo Swartz went to Italy, where his mother was born and he spent the first year or so of his life, every summer until he had to stick around to be a part of summer football activities for the Longmont High School team. Full Story

MacIntyre says the completed project will be best in Pac-12There were bulldozers, hard hats, mud, concrete trucks, blueprints, mud, cranes, lots of noise and, uh, mud, during the last recruiting cycle when Colorado football coach Mike MacIntyre brought recruits to campus. Full Story

Most people don't play guitar like Grayson Erhard does. That's because most people can't play guitar like he does. The guitarist for Fort Collins' Aspen Hourglass often uses a difficult two-hands-on-the-fretboard technique that Eddie Van Halen first popularized but which players such as Erhard have developed beyond pop-rock vulgarity.
Full Story